


Into the Deep

by notalwaysthevillian



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series), Subnautica (Video Game)
Genre: Aliens, Animals, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Arguing, Blood, Burns, Character Death, Crying, Death, Drowning, Explosions, Fainting, Food, Gen, Guilt, Hurt No Comfort, Illnesses, Knives, Major Character Injury, Men Crying, Near Death Experiences, Swearing, Terminal Illnesses, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 16:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 15,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20176984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notalwaysthevillian/pseuds/notalwaysthevillian
Summary: It was meant to be a detour.It wasn’t supposed to be a fight for their lives.On the way home from a routine mission, Captain Logan and his crew passed by an uncharted planet. Despite the protests of the others, he made a decision to enter the atmosphere.Now stranded, the crew of four must find a way to survive the dangers of this new world.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE heed the warnings on this fic! It's not like my usual stuff, there is NO happy ending. If you are triggered by anything listed, please don't read it!

“Hey, Logan, the scanners picked up a planet on the outskirts of our radar.”

Logan looked over Patton’s shoulder. The planet appeared to be of a larger size. There could be dozens of new species that lived there.

“L, no. I know that face.” Virgil got out of his chair, gesturing to the hologram. “That planet isn’t even on our path. We don’t need to make a detour to an uncharted planet.”

Roman let out a sigh, putting down the thermoblade he’d been playing with. “Come on, Virge, where’s your sense of adventure?”

“I think it got replaced by my common sense.”

As the two started bickering, Logan weighed his options. Virgil was right - the planet would be a detour. However, if he could lay a claim to this planet for the Sanders Corporation, it could be an influx of new resources and discoveries.

“Chart a course, Patton.”

“On it Captain!”

Virgil whirled around, gaping at Logan for a moment. “What the fuck are you thinking?”

“Language!”

“I’m thinking about the future of my company. An uncharted planet holds the potential for a thousand new discoveries.”

Running a hand through his hair, Virgil started taking deep breaths. Behind him, Roman gave Logan a thumbs up. “It’s about time you started taking chances.”

“There appears to be very little risk.”

“On the surface level! We don’t know what lies below!” Virgil yelled, panic written all over his face. “Do you not see the amount of water that covers that planet?”

Logan glanced over at the scan. “I fail to see why that would be an issue.”

A frustrated noise left Virgil’s mouth. “Are we looking at the same thing?”

“With the technology I’ve created, we can create anything we’d ever need to survive in the ocean.”

“Yeah, in  _ our _ ocean!”

“It would be beneficial for all of us to return to our posts now.” Logan moved to his Captain’s chair. “We’re approaching the planet.”

“If something goes wrong, I’m blaming you,” Virgil mumbled as he brought up his scanners.

Roman strapped himself in, stowing his knife. “Don’t worry about it, you guys have me to protect you.”

“You really think that you-” A loud beep drew Virgil’s attention from the arrogant mercenary. “Logan, I’m getting a weird energy reading from the planet. I think we should exit the airspace.”

“Nonsense. I’m sure it’s just a new species that’s not in our system. Patton, get us closer.” When the ship didn’t move, Logan raised an eyebrow. “Patton?”

The navigator in question spun around, a worried look on his face. “I think we should listen to Virgil.”

“I’m sorry, is Virgil the captain of this ship?”

Patton shook his head. “No, but-”

Logan held up a hand, silencing his brother. “I am the captain. And I am telling you to get us closer.”

Shooting a sympathetic glance at Virgil, Patton turned back around. He entered the code to restart the engine and slowly lowered the thrusters.

“See, Virgil, there’s nothing to-”

A blast of light hit the ship, knocking all of them out of their seats. Roman was the only one to stay put, wrapped up in his seat belts.

Red lights flashed overhead.

** _Warning. Engines failing._ **

“Brace yourselves!”

The ship hit the water, the impact sending the four of them towards the front of the ship. Logan threw his arms up a second too late.

The last thing he saw was the glass splintering before everything went dark.


	2. Chapter 1

“He’s dead. He’s dead and we’re stranded on this planet. We’re going to die here.”

“Virgil, I need you to breathe with me, okay?”

Logan rolled over, coughing the water out of his lungs. Within seconds he felt a comforting hand rubbing his back. “Thanks, Pat.”

“No problem, Lo.” Patton’s sunny smile was a relief to see.

Virgil’s mix of panic and anger was not.

“What were you thinking?!” Instead of facing Logan, he was pacing up and down the beach. “I told you there were weird energy readings. You thought it was fine. And then we were shot out of the fucking sky!”

For once, Patton didn’t scold the foul language. Either he knew that it was better to let Virgil get it all out, or he agreed with their panicked coworker.

Logan prayed that it was the former.

“And  _ then _ we crash land. You’re lucky I’m a strong enough swimmer to carry a person, or you would’ve sunk with the ship!”

The sound of water sloshing made the three of them turn. Roman was carrying some shards of metal onto the beach, looking thoroughly exhausted.

“I grabbed what I could find.”

Before Virgil could go off on another rant, Logan stood up. Patton hovered by his side, ready to catch him if needed.

“We need to set up a base.” Logan looked to Roman, who was fiddling with his knife again. “Roman, could you scout the island? Find a decent place to build?”

“On it.” Before he left, he turned to Virgil. “Are you going to stand there and stew in your own panic or did you want to help me?”

Mumbling something about getting attacked under his breath, Virgil went with Roman. Logan turned his attention to the salvaged parts Roman had managed to gather. He thanked his lucky stars when he noticed a fabricator had survived.

Without it, they’d be dead within the week.

“Patton, could you help me with this?” Logan gestured toward the item. “We should be able to attach it to this wall of rock for now. When we have a base built, we can move it inside.”

The two of them were barely able to get it attached. They collapsed into the sand, breathing heavily.

“Now what? Virgil is right, we’re stranded here.”

_ Under your orders _ .

The phrase wasn’t said, but Logan felt it in his soul. He’d endangered the lives of his brother and his two closest friends. One of whom didn’t forgive easily.

“We survive.” Before Patton could ask how, Logan started to explain. “The fabricator will allow us to create seaglides, and we can scour this planet for resources. We didn’t have any copper on board, but it appears that Roman found some when he was searching our sunken ship. I’m fairly certain that there will be other resources scattered about as well.”

There was a hesitance in Patton’s eyes. “Lo...you were also certain that the energy spike was nothing. What if…”

“I’m smart. Roman’s strong. You know all there is to know about flora, and Virgil fauna. Together, we can survive, and possibly send a distress signal.”

The look in Patton’s eyes remained, but he nodded. “Okay. Tell me what to do.”

“First we’ll need a habitat builder.” Logan typed the phrase into the fabricator, frowning when the materials needed appeared on the screen. “A wiring kit, a computer chip, and a battery. A battery appears to be the easiest to make, only using some copper and two...acid mushrooms?”

An arm brushed up against Logan as Patton leaned over. “What do they look like?”

“Patton, I cannot allow you to go diving for these. We don’t know how deep they grow, or where they’re even located.” Logan adjusted his glasses, realizing how lucky he was that they hadn’t shattered. “It’s my fault we’re stuck here. I’ll go searching for materials.”

“Is there anything we can make with all of this?” Patton waved an arm, gesturing to the various odds and ends scattered among the beach. “A rebreather? Something?”

A lightbulb went off in Logan’s head and he grabbed the nearest piece of scrap metal. “The fabricator can break this down to its core element - titanium. Once that’s been completed, we can take one of the pieces off and use the other two to create…”

The titanium rose in the fabricator. The lasers latched onto the molecules, breaking the titanium down into smaller pieces. Logan took a single piece off and hit another button. The lasers moved once more, rearranging the molecules and creating -

“An oxygen tank!”

Pulling the tank off of the shelf, Logan began strapping it on. “Patton, do you have a guess as to where the acid mushrooms would be located?”

“Probably in shallower waters.” The younger Sanders mused, glancing out at the ocean. “Closer to coral.”

Logan nodded, tightening the last strap. “Alright. Tell the others-”

“Woah.” Patton grabbed his arm. “No way. You’re not going out there right now, it’s getting dark! And you didn’t see how deep it goes below us. You won’t find mushrooms there.”

“Then I’ll have to swim farther out. I’ll be back.”

Tears welled in Patton’s eyes as he shook his head. “No. No one goes anywhere alone. That’s what I told the others before you woke up and that’s what I’m sticking to. Either I go with you or you wait for Roman and Virgil to get back.”

Silently, Logan grabbed another piece of scrap and put it into the fabricator.

While Logan made another oxygen tank, Patton grabbed a stick and wrote a note in the sand.

_ Went looking for supplies. Be back soon. Stay together. _

_ P + L _

“Virgil will still freak out if we’re not back before he is,” Patton said as Logan helped him with his straps.

A sigh left Logan’s mouth. “I know, but he’s going to worry regardless. If we go now, he’ll be happy that we have enough supplies to stay on the island for a while.”

“If you say so.”

After making sure they could reach their packs, Logan walked down to the water, with Patton right on his heels. He took a deep breath of air before swimming out. Placing the mouthpiece in, he dove under the water.


	3. Chapter 2

“What if there’s creatures that will attack us on this island?” Virgil asked as he and Roman walked away from the brothers.

Roman flexed his muscles. “I’ll take care of them.”

“You know, I was the highest scorer in my self-defense courses at the academy.” Virgil pointed out, smirking when Roman gave him a shocked look. “I know it doesn’t look like it, but I can protect myself.  _ And _ Logan and Patton.”

“Are you saying that I wasn’t needed?”

Sighing, Virgil shook his head. “No. I’m just saying that you don’t need to be the only protector. With two of us, we can protect Patton and Logan at the same time. They’re the ones who need to make it off this planet. The two of us are expendable.”

Roman stopped short, making Virgil run into his back. When he turned, Virgil was surprised to see concern in his eyes. “What makes you think you’re expendable? Weren’t you the top researcher for fauna?”

“Yeah, but-”

“No buts. You’re just as important as everyone else here.” Without hesitation, Roman opened his arms.

Virgil shook his head. “You might be Logan’s friend, but I hardly know you.”

Roman turned around, his shoulders slightly drooping. “Onward!”

“Thanks,” Virgil whispered, just barely loud enough for the other to hear.

They walked in silence, gazing at the color-saturated plants that dotted their surroundings. The further they walked, the more uneasy Virgil got.

“We should’ve run into some sort of creature by now.” He said, nearly tripping over the root of a tree.

Roman shrugged, using his knife to cut through some of the leaves. “Most of this planet is covered in water. Maybe everything is underwater.”

“Still, there’s plenty of food here for somethiIIEEE!”

Virgil ducked as an orange colored  _ thing  _ leapt at him. He moved behind Roman, who’d thrown his arm out.

“Where is it?”

The creature leapt at them again. Roman slashed at it with his knife and it let out a high squeak before falling to the ground.

Roman slashed at it once more to be sure it was dead, only relaxing when it stopped twitching. “It’s dead.”

“There’s going to be more.” Virgil looked around, worried they’d leap from the trees. “You have my back, right?”

“Right.”

Virgil knelt down, looking over the dead creature. Its body was round, with a giant eyeball taking up most of the body. Four legs sprouted from its body, reminding Virgil of a spider.

Patton was going to be terrified of these things.

Slowly standing, Virgil looked around. He spotted the entrance to a cave nearby and saw a few eyes on him. Grabbing Roman’s arm, he carefully lead them away.

“They appear to live in caves,” Virgil said, mostly to himself, as they walked away. “I think the giant eye helps them see better in the darkness. Not great for predators, so I don’t think there’s anything that threatens their existence on the island. Except for us, so we should be safe as long as we stay away from the caves.”

“Virge?” Virgil stopped his rambling, looking over at Roman, who gestured to the area in front of them. “How’s this for a place to build?”

Looking around, Virgil could see that the clearing was large enough for their needs. He nodded, knowing that Logan would approve of the place as well. “We should check the area in case I was wrong about where those things live.”

It didn’t take them long to scour the clearing, as there wasn’t much plantlife blocking their view. Satisfied with the spot, they hurried back to the beach.

Only to find that Patton and Logan had left.

“‘Went looking for supplies?’” Virgil read. He started pacing in the sand. “Are they nuts? Do you see how dark it is? If it wasn’t for the light coming off of those plants, I wouldn’t be able to see anything. The water is pitch black!”

“Hey,” Roman said in a soft voice. He reached out, grabbing Virgil’s hands and stilling him. “Breathe with me. In for four, hold for seven, out for eight.”

As Virgil breathed, his mind grew clearer. Patton wouldn’t let Logan be out for too long, and Logan wouldn’t let them go too far. They still had to swim back, and swimming back while they were already tired would be a terrible idea.

But Virgil couldn’t help but worry for his friends. He felt bad, but he was much more worried for Patton than Logan.

Patton, his best friend of eight years.

Patton, who talked his way out of fights at the Academy.

Patton, who’d never hurt a fly.

“Virgil, why don’t we start converting this scrap metal into titanium?” Roman picked up a chunk and hauled it over to the fabricator.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Virgil headed over, checking the power gauge on the side. “We can use it until the gauge hits a fourth of the way. That way we’ll have enough to make the habitat builder when they get back with the supplies.”

Roman set the scrap on the fabricator, nodding as it deconstructed the metal. “Let’s get to it then.”


	4. Chapter 3

Despite the air tanks, the two brothers were breathless as they searched for the mushrooms. While the island had looked beautiful as the sun set, that was nothing compared to the glow of bioluminescence beneath the waves.

Alternating between swimming and floating, it was only ten minutes before Patton sputtered and pulled his face from the water. Logan surfaced as well, looking at his brother.

“There’s mushrooms down there.” His legs kicked hard as he trod water. “And I’m sure we’ll need some of those yellow cluster things.”

Logan nodded. “If you’d collect those, I’ll see if I can find some more copper and whatever else I can grab.”

“Five minutes and then we go back. It’s starting to get really dark and Virgil’s going to worry.” The tone in Patton’s voice gave no room for argument.

With a nod, Logan dove under the water, Patton following right behind.

Heading for the clusters, Patton saw a few animals with oversized teeth hovering around the vines. Without Virge there, he had no idea if they were going to attack or not, so he was sure to keep his distance, grabbing two clusters before moving towards the mushrooms.

Logan dove slightly deeper, using a rock to bang at a few outcrops. A few of them had titanium, which he avoided. They likely had enough for now and he was sure that they’d need much more copper than they thought.

He was quick to load up his bag, taking care not to go too far into a cave, lest he find himself stuck.

Just as he was swimming out of a tube of coral, he heard a creature behind him. The noises it was making didn’t sound friendly.

Kicking hard, he did his best to swim out of the way, but he wasn’t quick enough. He let out a cry of pain as the creature exploded, burning him through his suit.

Knowing that the water would soothe the pain until he got back, he headed for the surface.

Patton was only a little ways away and waved when he saw Logan.

Together, the two of them swam back, moving a little slower due to the heavy bags and their low energy levels.

Logan winced when he saw Virgil pacing up and down the beach.

The man looked beyond worried and was making a rut in the sand. Roman sat a little ways away, his mouth moving.

Logan could only hope that they were getting along.

“Virge!”

The pacing stopped immediately.

Virgil dove into the water, heading for Patton. He grabbed Patton’s pack off of him and swam for shore, Patton swimming faster without the excess weight.

“Are you completely insane?” Virgil yelled as Logan dragged himself onto the beach.

At least Virgil waited for him to get out of the water.

“You don’t even know what’s out there! You could’ve died!” Virgil ran a hand through his now wet hair, flinging the fringe to the side. “Patton, did you see any creatures?”

Patton looked up from where he was pulling things out of his pack. “Yeah, there were a few with big teeth so I stayed clear.”

Whirling around, Virgil made a  _ see _ gesture.

Logan let out a sigh. “I was going to go alone, seeing as how it’s my fault that we’re stranded. Patton insisted on coming with me or waiting. We need to build a shelter as soon as possible, so I took him up on the first offer.”

Sitting down, Virgil looked over at his best friend. “Patton, you know you’re not the best swimmer.”

“I couldn’t let him go alone!” Patton protested, a look of sadness in his eyes. “He’s my brother!”

A wet thump sounded as Virgil laid back in the sand. “Next time we all go or none of us go.”

“Deal.” Logan grabbed his pack, heading over to the fabricator. “We should have enough power to create a Habitat Builder. Let’s see…”

Digging through his pack, Logan pulled out some silver and placed it on the shelf. After a whirring sound and a flash of light, a wiring kit appeared.

“A computer chip...oh.”

Virgil sat up immediately. “That wasn’t a good oh.”

“It appears that I am missing a key ingredient to the computer chip.” The anger was clear in Logan’s voice. “I should’ve checked before we left. We only have enough power for a few more pieces of equipment.”

“What do you need?”

Leaping to his feet, Virgil shook his head. “Roman, no.”

“Roman yes.”

“ _ No. _ ” Reaching out, Virgil grabbed Roman’s sleeve before he could go anywhere. “We all need some sleep. We can go looking for the ingredient tomorrow, okay?”

“We’ve had a rough day,” Patton added, hoping that his opinion would sway the others.

Guilt flooded Logan’s features immediately. “They’re right. We should rest.”

“I think I saw a cave-”

“NO!” 

Patton jumped at Virgil’s outburst.

Trembling slightly, Virgil shook his head. “No caves. There’s creatures in there that I don’t want to encounter again.”

“We can sleep on the beach,” Roman said, tugging some leaves off a nearby tree. “These are soft enough, we can build beds quickly.”

“I’ll take first watch.” Logan offered.

“No, you’re going to sleep.” Virgil countered as he dragged a few leaves over. “I’ll take first watch. The rest of you have all done more than I have today.”

“I’d hardly call saving my life-”

“Guys!” Patton yelled, getting their attention. “Do we need to keep watch? Other than the cave creatures, did you encounter anything?”

“No.” Roman and Virgil chorused.

“Then we all go to sleep.”

The other three nodded before getting their beds ready. Once Patton had fallen asleep, they quietly gave in to Roman taking first watch.


	5. Chapter 4

The next morning, after Roman had speared and cooked their breakfast with his thermoblade, the four of them sat down and made a plan.

“Getting the base built is our number one priority,” Logan said, biting into a fish. He made a face immediately, swallowing hard. “The second is creating a stable source of food.”

“What, you’re not a fan of the fish?” There was a teasing look in Roman’s eye.

Holding back a gag, Logan nodded toward the fabricator. “The ingredient I was missing is something called table coral.”

“Oh, I saw some of that yesterday! I tried to grab some, but it’s really stuck on there. We’re going to need Roman’s knife.” Making a slashing motion with his hand, Patton grinned at the mercenary.

“Very well then.” Logan pushed the rest of the fish away, making another face as Roman eagerly grabbed it. “Once we’ve finished...breakfast...we’ll all head off. Once we have the table coral, we can get settled and have power, as well as a place of refuge. I can’t imagine the weather will stay this tame forever.”

As if on cue, the sun was blocked as clouds moved across the sky.

Roman gulped down the rest of Logan’s fish, grabbing his freshly made oxygen tank. “Let’s go.”

The four of them suited up, Virgil helping Patton with his tank, before ducking into the water.

The sheer drop under the island made Virgil uneasy, but he made sure to stay behind Patton. Roman insisted at being at the back in case something came at them, despite Virgil’s protests.

With Virgil there to speed Patton up, they made it to the spot in half the time, though the storm may have had some influence.

Logan stopped close to where they’d picked up the supplies the previous day. “Where did you see the coral?”

Patton ducked his head underwater for a second. When he surfaced, he pointed. “Around there.”

“Roman, go with him and collect as much as you can. I suspect we’ll need more than one computer chip.” Logan glared at the water, mad at himself. “Virgil, if you’ll come with me and help me gather quartz. I’d like to build a few observatories at the mountaintops if possible.”

Virgil nodded stiffly, making sure that the other two knew to surface in about five minutes. He and Logan dove down, easily navigating the brightly lit shallow water.

They’d just passed a cave when Logan heard a familiar sound. He swam away as fast as he could upon hearing it, seeing Virgil in his peripheral. A sigh of relief left him as the creature exploded far enough away that he wasn’t injured.

Virgil fixed him with a look, but didn’t force them to surface. Instead, he filled his pack with as much as he could carry before kicking up for air.

“What the fuck was that?” He asked as Logan popped up next to him.

Logan sighed, knowing this was inevitable. “It was a creature I bumped into last time. This time I was fortunate enough to recognize the sound and get away.”

“This time?!” Virgil yelled, splashing the water around as he moved his hands. “You mean that thing exploded next to you?”

“Affirmative.”

“As soon as our base is built I’m taking a look at any possible wounds you might have. “ Without thinking, Virgil was already running his hands over Logan’s side. “If you’re injured, we need to know as soon as possible. I know you want to take full responsibility for us getting stuck here, but the only one who isn’t at fault is Roman. Patton could’ve denied your orders and I could’ve fought harder. So don’t blame yourself, it only makes you feel worse. Trust me, I’d know.”

Logan winced slightly as Virgil’s fingers ran over a tender spot. “Thanks, V.”

Virgil nodded and the conversation died as Roman surfaced and called their names.

They swam over, reaching him just as Patton came up for air. A large grin spread across his face as he patted Roman’s pack. “We’ve got enough table coral to last us a long time. You should’ve seen the way he was slicing and dicing!”

“Well, I hope they aren’t sliced too much or it may not register in the fabricator,” Logan said bluntly.

Rolling his eyes, Roman shook his head. “Relax, Captain, I only sliced them enough to be able to pick them up. And I left enough so that it can grow back. On Patton’s insistence.”

A low rumble sounded overhead.

Virgil looked up, seeing the clouds starting to darken. “We should get back. The sooner we can make shelter the better.”

Once they arrived back on the island, Logan took no time in making the habitat builder. Loading his pack up with titanium pieces and quartz, he headed for the clearing.

By the time the others had packed up some of the excess materials and headed over, Logan had already built a multipurpose room and a hatch.

“I’m assuming we’d all like our own rooms?” He asked as he heard the others.

“If we can’t spare the materials, I can share.” Virgil offered.

Looking in his bag, Logan winced. “We don’t have much titanium to spare, despite the amount of wreckage Roman managed to grab. I saw that some of the outcrops gave titanium, but I thought that we had enough.”

“It’s okay, we can share!” Patton turned to Virgil and Roman. “Would you two be okay with sharing?”

The two shared a look before Virgil nodded. “Yeah, I guess that’s fine.”

“If you don’t-”

“We’re good, Pat, I promise.”

Logan coughed, his face slightly red. “I don’t suppose you gathered some of those vines? We’ll need a mesh for beds.”

“Don’t worry, we got you covered.” Limp vines were pulled out of Roman’s pack. “If you want power though, we should make some solar panels. It’s gonna get dark soon and we’ll want all the power we can get.”

Holding up the habitat builder, Logan started on creating the room. He was beyond thankful that the technology was a breeze to use - after all, he’d created the fabricator and the habitat builder with the same technology.

The lasers whirred, finishing up the room. Logan inserted the ingredients for the solar panels, watching the titanium and quartz be rearranged into the panels.

Once the solar panels were in place, Logan created two more multipurpose rooms and placed two beds in each. Virgil immediately curled up and was out like a light. Roman was right behind him, leaving the two brothers awake in their own room.

“Hey Lo?”

Logan rolled over, seeing the blurry figure across the room. “Yes, Patton?”

“There’s no one I’d rather be stranded with.”

Logan could feel Patton’s smile, which generated one on his own face. “Thank you, Patton.”

“Good night.”

“Good night.”


	6. Chapter 5

“I’m glad you let them go! Now we can spend some time together!” Patton clapped his hands together, grinning at his best friend.

Virgil chopped some leaves out of their way with his new knife. “I’m glad we get to spend time together too, but I’m still worried about them. What if they come across something we haven’t seen yet? There’s always a bigger fish.”

“Roman can handle it! He can handle anything!”

“No, Roman just thinks he can handle everything.” Another set of leaves fell. “Do you see anything edible?”

SPLAT!

Virgil groaned, looking down to find his foot had gone straight through what looked like a watermelon.

“I think that might be edible. Well, not that one because it’s been  _ de-feet-ed _ .” Patton laughed as Virgil groaned. “But there should be some others on the same vine.”

Following the vine, they found a few melons close by. Grabbing what they could carry, they made their way back to camp, following the trail Virgil had made.

“I think I’m going to call these… marblemelons.” Patton mused as they walked.

Virgil shook his head. “You don’t have to name the things Pat.”

“Of course I do! We’re the first ones to discover these!” Patton pushed his glasses up his nose and straightened his back. “‘Any discovery is worth naming.’”

“Don’t  _ do _ that!” Virgil wheezed, holding back his laughter. “You two sound way too similar.”

Patton giggled the whole way back to base. At some point, Virgil couldn’t hold it back anymore and started laughing too.

“Alright, alright.” Virgil put his pack down, a few stray giggles escaping him. “Let’s get an exterior growbed going so we can get these growing.”

Grabbing some titanium, Virgil quickly made the growbeds. Patton extracted the seeds from the melons and planted while Virgil cut up a melon for lunch.

The two ate on the beach. Patton couldn’t help but notice the way Virgil shifted every time a wave crashed on shore.

“Virge, they’ll be back before dark. I made Logan promise.”

Virgil bit his lip. “I know, but...I just can’t help but worry. We’re stranded on a planet no one had approached before. We can’t contact anyone until we build a radio, and even then it’s not guaranteed. If I just would’ve pushed Logan more to leave…”

“Hey, no, it’s not on you.” Sliding over, Patton wrapped his arms around Virgil. “We can’t put the blame on just one person. I know you want to protect us, but that’s not the way you should do it.”

“I know.”

Virgil leaned into the embrace, his eyelids drooping. “I hope they remember to grab some more of those pink fish. We’re running low on water.”

“If we built underwater-”

“No.” Virgil cut Patton off immediately. “There are hardly any predators on land. If we go underwater, we have no idea what could attack us. For all we know, there’s something that’s been watching us and biding its time.”

Wide eyes looked back at Virgil through glasses. “Do you really think that?”

“It’s a possibility.” Virgil stood up, brushing the sand off his suit. “Let’s see if we can find any other food. Those melons aren’t going to grow fast enough.”

By the time Logan and Roman came back, much faster with the new seaglides they’d made, a whole garden was set up. There were melons and potatoes, as well as a tree full of something that Patton had started calling Lantern Fruit.

Logan gave them a smile. “Well done! Any discovery-”

“-is worth naming.” The other three said together, before bursting into laughter.

Before they knew it, they’d been stranded for a month. Patton was constantly tending to the plants, trying to get them to grow as much food as possible. Virgil was always by his side, saying that since they were on land, his expertise wasn’t needed. Roman explored the caves, coming back with a dead Cave Crawler for Virgil to study.

As for Logan, he’d managed to set up an observatory on each mountain peak. Most days he didn’t reappear until dinner.

One day, Roman had had enough. He dragged Patton and Virgil up the mountain to confront Logan.

“What are you doing up here?” Logan asked as Roman stomped into the base.

“This is an intervention, Logan,” Roman said. Virgil and Patton shared a glance behind him. “You’re only delaying the inevitable. We can’t stay here forever.”

“Have you looked out the window?” Logan gestured to the observatory. Patton and Virgil stepped inside, looking through the glass. “This island is perfect. There are few predators and Patton is growing any food we might need.”

“There aren’t any building materials on the island. I already scavenged the ship. And according to Patton, we’re going to slowly starve.” Roman listed off.

Logan turned to his brother. “Is that true?”

Patton nodded. “Yes. The plants are growing too slow. At this rate, we’ll be out of food by the end of the week.”

“We’re surrounded by the ocean, Logan.” Gazing out the window, Roman sighed. “Sooner or later we’re going to have to face it.”

“I know your entire life has been an adventure, but that’s not how I do things.” Logan snapped, setting down his PDA. “If you want to go off for a swim, be my guest. I won’t have to pay you if you’re dead.”

Patton gasped. “Logan!”

Without another word, Roman left the base. Virgil followed, wanting to get out of the stressful situation.

“Can we make more growbeds?” Logan asked, running a hand through his hair.

“We could, but I don’t think it matters. The food grows too slowly.” Patton started, choosing his words carefully. “I know you don’t like it, but Roman is right. If we built a base underwater, we’d have plenty of fish. They don’t swim near the island. And we could make a water filtration machine, or a few.”

Logan rubbed his temples. “And how do you suggest we power this base?”

“If we were shallow enough, we could use solar panels. Otherwise, we could go with a bioreactor, or a thermal plant if we find a heat vent.” Patton listed off. “Just...think about it, Lo. Okay?”

“I’ll give it some thought.” Logan’s stomach rumbled.

Patton gave him a concerned look. “Have you eaten today?”

“I had some Lantern Fruit this morning.”

Putting his hands on his hips, Patton entered what Virgil and Logan had called ‘Dad Mode.’ “You’re coming down and eating right now. I’ll see what I can do about putting a growbed in here. It would probably fit in the observatory.”

“The plants would likely cut off my visual.” Logan protested.

Patton fixed him with a look. “You need to eat. And how much more can you stare out at the open water? You can’t see anything from above.”

“That...is true.” Grabbing his PDA, Logan gestured toward the door. “After you.”

“No, after you.” Patton insisted. “I need to make sure that you’re coming down.”

Logan shook his head, exiting the base. “You know me too well.”

Patton followed, closing the bulkhead behind him. “That’s a good thing.”


	7. Chapter 6

Two weeks passed and the four of them were still on the island. The extra growbeds were barely producing enough food as it was.

And then the storm hit.

Clouds covered the sky and the rain poured down, filling the growbeds with water. Patton watched, horrified, from inside the habitat. He reached for the handle of the bulkhead, getting pulled back by Logan.

“Patton, I insist that you stay inside the base for your own protection. We can regrow the plants. I can’t lose my only brother.”

Patton could see the distress on Logan’s face, something he didn’t see often. “Lo, I know you’re worried about me, but I have to create a way for them to drain. If I don’t, we’ll starve.”

“You have to let him go,” Virgil said. “I’m worried too, but he’d find a way to sneak out of the base either way.”

“Besides, it’s not as though you know how to drain the growbeds. And we’ve all seen you try to grow plants. You have a black thumb.” Roman added.

Looking between the three of them, Logan sighed. “Fine. Patton, you can go.”

The second Patton was out of the base, Logan took a step forward. “Don’t  _ ever _ tell me what to do again. I’m still the captain, and you will treat me as such.”

Roman took a step forward, but Virgil’s arm shot out, holding him back. “Lo, you’re one of my greatest friends, but let’s face it. You stopped being captain when the ship went down. If we don’t work together and  _ listen _ to each other, we can forget about getting off this island.”

The two hot-heads glared at each other, but neither said a word. Virgil took this as a silent treaty and went back to his research, keeping an eye on Patton through the window.

Over the next few days, tensions between Roman and Logan rose. Roman disappeared in the mornings, taking his seaglide and not coming back until lunchtime. Each time he came back, Virgil and Patton bombarded him with questions about the different flora and fauna that he’d seen.

Their time on the island was becoming detrimental, but Logan didn’t want to admit it.

They were safe here.

“Logan, can we talk?”

Without turning around, Logan nodded, hitting the record button on his PDA.

There was a short pause before Roman started to speak. “Look, I know you hate it, but you’re the main reason we’re stuck here. You promised me enough credits to keep me comfortable for the rest of my life. Instead, I got stranded on this planet. It’s been six weeks. We aren’t any closer to rescue, our food supply is low, and we’ve had to dig out our habitat twice. When are you going to see that we can’t just sit here?”

Halfway through the rant, Logan had turned to face him. “I’m sorry, do you think you should be making the executive decisions? There’s a reason you didn’t pass the captain’s exam. It’s because you have no reason.”

“At least I know not to head toward uncharted planets!” Roman cried out, his face getting red with anger. “I know not to endanger the lives of the people close to me for a chance of discovery!”

“Hindsight is 20/20. If you’d been in that position, you would’ve made the same call.” Rising from his chair, Logan got face to face with the mercenary. “Did you simply come up here to berate my decisions?”

“No, I came up here to tell you that I have a plan.” Roman snapped. “We grab all the materials we can carry and head toward the spot I scouted. There’s a lot of metal deposits.”

“And where is this spot?” Logan questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Roman shrugged. “A few hundred meters deep.”

“A few  _ hundred _ meters? How are we supposed to survive?”

“I talked to Patton and Virgil. If we make a few water filters and use a bioreactor for power, we’d live like queens. And we’d have all the fresh fish we can eat - Patton can even bring some Lantern Fruit.” Roman added, hoping to sway Logan’s decision. “Besides, it’s not like you have a better plan.”

Thinking hard, Logan realized that Roman was right. He had no plan.

“Fine. Send me the coordinates and I’ll make a decision.”

Roman pulled out his PDA and sent the information over. He paused at the bulkhead, looking over his shoulder. “There really isn’t a decision to make. It’s our only option and you know it.”

Leaving Logan to his thoughts, Roman headed back down the path. His eyes wandered over to the other side of the island, to the small lagoon he’d found. Deciding some peace would help ease his mind, he headed in that direction.

When he got there, he saw something glowing across the way. Taking the chance that something was in the water, he swam across to the tiny strip of sand.

The item he picked up was like nothing he’d ever seen before. A strange symbol glowed purple in the center of what appeared to be a tablet. He turned it over, finding no differences on the back.

“Weird.”

He spent almost an hour poking at it, hoping that a message would start or that a hologram would appear. When nothing happened, he stuck it in his pack and headed back to base.

Logan’s eyes were immediately on the tablet as Roman walked into the base.

“What is that?”

“I don’t know. I found it at the lagoon.” Roman said, waving a hand in that direction. “It was in the sand, but I’d never seen it there before.”

“Perhaps it was buried and the water washed away the sand covering it.” Logan reached out, taking it out of Roman’s hands as he spoke.

Patton watched as Logan tilted it every which way. “Do you think it’s part of another ship?”

“I’ve been on many ships, Pat, and none of them look like that.” Roman pointed out.

“We’re not the first people to come to this planet.” Virgil’s voice trembled as he came to his realization.

Roman snorted. “You think people made that? It’s probably aliens. For all we know, the seamonsters are smarter than we think. But we’ll never find out if we stay here.”

All eyes turned to Logan, awaiting his final decision.

Setting the tablet down, Logan let out a sigh. “I reviewed your proposal.”

“And?”

“Gather everything you can carry. We’re making a new base.”


	8. Chapter 7

The four of them waited until the next morning to depart. Logan had suggested that they leave their base standing, just in case something happened and they had to return.

Roman took the front, leading them to the area he’d found. It only took a few minutes to get there, thanks to their seaglides.

The four of them popped up to the surface to refill their oxygen tanks.

“It’s just down there,” Roman pointed down.

Virgil ducked his head under the water for a moment and came up sputtering. “In the cave?!”

“Oh, relax, there’s only a few hostiles down there.”

“ _ Hostiles _ ?!”

“Perhaps this was not the greatest idea,” Logan said before the two could start arguing. “We don’t know how hostile they could be. I know you scouted this place, but they could be threatened by a group.”

Patton spoke up. “I know you guys are scared, but we owe it to Roman to at least try. After all, you already approved his proposal.”

“I suppose you’re correct,” Logan said, begrudgingly. “It’s what a captain should do.”

“No way. I’m going back.” Virgil gripped his seaglide with white fingers.

Patton surged forward, grabbing his arm. “Virgil, please come with us. We’ll need your expertise too. What if we eat a poisonous fish?”

The hesitance was clear on Virgil’s face as he looked at Roman. “Exactly how hostile are they?”

“If we avoid the mushrooms, we should be safe.”

“So there’s no real guarantee that we are safe?” Virgil asked, trembling under Patton’s grip. “Pat, we could die down there.”

“Virge, we were going to die on the island.” Making sure to be gentle, Patton squeezed his arm. “The food was getting ruined from all the rain, and there wasn’t enough time to grow anything new.”

Virgil’s shoulders slumped. “You’re right.”

With a nod to Roman, the four of them dove back under the water. They buzzed through the opening of the cave, amazed at what they saw underneath.

The mushrooms Roman had mentioned were bigger than a multipurpose room. But that wasn’t what caused them to gasp.

The mushrooms glowed a vibrant pink, lighting up the caves. While it wasn’t as bright as the sunlight they’d had on the island, it was bright enough to easily navigate around the stalactites hanging from the cave ceiling.

And bright enough to see the creatures Roman had mentioned.

What appeared to be a long worm with fangs darted out of a mushroom, attacking the poor fish that had swum to close. Once it had finished its meal, it swam to a nearby mushroom and took residence inside.

Virgil grabbed onto Patton and kicked his feet to move a little faster.

Roman gestured to an area off to the side. Logan moved quickly, building a room and hatch. He entered, placing a bioreactor inside and loading it. Making sure there was oxygen, Logan waved to the others.

They entered, crowding around the bioreactor.

“When my tank is full I’ll create the other rooms,” Logan said, loading more flora into the reactor.

Roman took off his pack, loading some rotten fish inside to create some room. “I’ll go gather some more material. I spotted some lithium dotting the walls.”

Logan nodded, turning to his brother. “Patton, once the base is complete you can create a growbed and plant what you brought.”

They set to work, easily setting up the base. Virgil hovered above the first room, observing the worms from afar, noting their behavior.

**“30 seconds of oxygen.”**

Shaking his head, Virgil headed inside the base.

Logan noticed the look in his eyes. “Care to share your findings?”

“I thought those things were worms,” Virgil started, typing his notes into his PDA as he spoke. “But now I think they’re more like snakes. But there’s something about them that reminds me of crabs too.”

“Crabsnakes!” Patton called out from tending the plants.

“Crabsnakes it is,” Virgil mumbled. “As long as Roman doesn’t do anything stupid, like go near the mushrooms, we’ll be safe here. Although, it does look like they patrol the area, so it’s possible that they’ll come after the base. I think we’re far enough away from the mushrooms that they should keep their distance, but we should build some reinforced walls just in case.”

Logan nodded. “I’ll do so as soon as Roman gets back.”

“He’s not back?”

“He came back once to drop off some stuff, but he went out again.” Patton stood, brushing the dirt off his suit. “Something about magnetite.”

Logan took a few steps forward. “Did he leave any lithium?”

Reaching into his bag, Patton pulled out the precious metal. Logan took it and immediately began building reinforcements for the walls.

Virgil headed into his shared room. He’d have to talk to Logan about putting in a bulkhead so he had a little privacy.

A cough made him look up.

“I know it’s scary down here,” Patton said, hovering in the doorway. “But we’ll get through it. Together.”

“What if we don’t?”

The question was scarcely above a whisper. Patton came in and knelt on the floor in front of the bed, putting his hands on Virgil’s knees. “Virgil, I promise you that I’ll do everything I possibly can to get us out of here.”

“Thanks, Pat.” Virgil gave him a weak smile.

“Are you gonna be alright?”

Virgil recognized the worried look in Patton’s eyes. He’d been on the receiving end of it plenty of times before. “I’ll be fine. I’m just gonna do some work.”

Patton nodded, squeezing Virgil’s knee before he stood and left the room. Virgil grabbed his PDA and began typing everything he could remember about the Crabsnakes.

“Whatcha doing?”

Virgil looked up from his PDA. Roman was in the doorway, twirling his knife. “I’m trying to take more notes on the fauna we’ve seen. It would be a lot easier if I could study them up close.”

“Isn’t there a containment system you can build for that?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. “I remember seeing some aquariums at the academy.”

“An aquarium uses glass. An alien containment unit needs enameled glass.” Virgil explained, running a hand through his hair. “Those things that stalk around the vines? Logan found that their teeth contain the necessary components to make enameled glass, but we only have enough to make one piece.”

The determined look Roman gave Virgil worried him. “How many teeth do you need?”

Hesitantly, Virgil said, “We’d need four more at the very least.”

Roman gave a nod and disappeared from the doorway. Virgil was up in a flash, following him to the hatch. “Where are you going?”

“You need more teeth.” He said, as though it was that simple. “I’m going to get them for you.”

Virgil threw his hands up in frustration. “How are you going to get them? They’re hard enough to use in enameled glass, you can’t just pluck them from their mouths.”

“How do they lose them then?”

“They’re attracted to metal deposits. Once they pick them up, the metal works at their teeth until they fall out.” Virgil explained automatically. His eyes flew wide. “Roman, no.”

“Roman yes.”

**Roman Maida has left the habitat.**


	9. Chapter 8

“He just left?” Logan asked after Virgil had run to him and explained the whole story. He’d grown more and more panicked as he relayed the information. It had taken Logan nearly an hour to get him to calm down.

Virgil, still shaking, nodded. “I know we don’t get along very well, but that doesn’t mean I want him to die! What if-”

“Virgil, breathe.” Logan reminded him, waiting to make sure he did as he was told. “Roman knows how to take care of himself. While there is a chance that he could get ambushed, it’s infinitesimal.”

“There’s a huge chance?!”

Logan put a hand on Virgil’s wrist, trying to ground him. “No, it’s a small chance. I realize that I misused that word once, but it means small. Not large.”

“I hope he comes back soon.”

“If you are that worried, you could always go look for him,” Logan suggested.

Virgil gave him a wide-eyed look. “Are you insane?”

“Not likely.”

“I can’t go look for him! What if something tries to eat me? Those Crabsnakes are extremely territorial, if I get caught up in a current I’m dead. Not to mention that Stalkers - the things Roman probably went to fight - are violent as hell.”

Logan placed his hands on Virgil’s shoulders, effectively ending his ranting. “What did you just say?”

“I said that Roman went to go fight the Stalkers.” Virgil shrank in on himself at the look in Logan’s eye. “Probably. I’m not sure.”

“Why would he go fight a-” The lightbulb went off in Logan’s head. “You told him about the enameled glass.”

Virgil nodded. “I thought he’d go pick up the teeth, not battle a hoard!”

“A hoard isn’t the correct term. A pod perhaps.” Logan mused. He shook his head. “That doesn’t matter. What does matter is that Roman left without permission.”

“But if what he’s doing helps us in the long run, does it matter?” Patton stood in the doorway.

Releasing Virgil, who curled up on his bed, Logan turned. “If the rules aren’t followed, what is the point of having rules?”

Patton shrugged. “Maybe we should have less rules.”

“Rules have always worked for us. Why would I lessen them now?”

Walking fully in the room, Patton stopped in front of his brother. “You should lessen them because now we have Roman. Rules may work for the three of us, but he isn’t used to rules. A compromise-”

“Compromise?” The word sliced through the air. “Why should I reward him for not listening to me?”

“Logan-”

“If he’s going to ignore our rules, then maybe he shouldn’t be with us.”

Patton gasped. “Logan! He’d die without us. This isn’t Vox. We can’t survive on our own.”

“He certainly thinks he can.”

**[Roman Maida has entered the habitat.]**

A loud groan had them darting out to the main room. Roman tossed his bag to the floor. Stalker teeth poured out of the top, clattering as they hit the floor.

“How many -”

“Somewhere around thirty. I didn’t get a chance to count.” Roman peeled his suit down, revealing a large gash on his forearm. Blood began to drip down to his wrist.

Patton jumped to his feet. “I’ll get a first aid kit.”

Logan gathered up the stalker teeth. He mumbled to himself as he began to store it in one of the lockers he’d created.

A hiss of pain fell from Roman’s lips. Virgil knelt at his side. “Can I do anything?”

“Help me peel this off my arm.”

The two worked at peeling the top of Roman’s suit off. By the time Patton got back with the first aid kit, there was a small puddle of blood. Without a word, Patton began winding a bandage around Roman’s arm.

“You said you got around thirty teeth?” Virgil asked, twisting some spare bandage around his fingers.

Roman winced as Patton pulled a bit too hard. “Probably.”

Virgil’s eyes grew wide. “So you took on fifteen of them?”

“Not all at once.” Patton finished the bandaging and disappeared with the med kit once more. “They usually attack in groups of five. Thought you’d want to know that for your notes.”

“The line between idiocy and bravery is a thin one, and you use it like a fucking tightrope.” Virgil helped Roman to his feet, half dragging him to their room. “Now rest. If I see you out of that room, I won’t hesitate to seal you in there.”

“Okay, Mother.”

After waiting by the door to make sure Roman at least laid down, Virgil headed off to find Logan. The captain was tending to the bioreactor, making sure they’d have enough power for the night.

“How is he?” Logan didn’t bother looking up, continuing to tap away at his tablet.

“He’s resting.”

A sigh filled the air. Logan headed into the main room, setting his tablet down on a desk. “He doesn’t understand that in my mind, he comes last. I won’t hesitate to throw him to the Crabsnakes.”

“ _ Logan _ !” Patton whisper-yelled as he joined their group. “You can’t mean that.”

“I do and I will.” Logan snapped, eyes burning bright. “There’s a pecking order. Money is what makes the hierarchy. I make the most, then you two, and then Roman. If he so much as thinks about something that would hurt you, he’s gone.”

Virgil crossed his arms. “If money matters so much, why have you let him make major decisions?”

“Because, unfortunately, we need him.” Logan ran a hand through his hair, causing it to stick up in all different directions. “As long as he does what I need him to, he can believe he’s in charge.”

“And what if he doesn’t?” Patton asked, his eyes wide.

“Then I pay him more.” Came the swift response. “For enough money, people will do  _ anything _ .”


	10. Chapter 9

Confined to his bed, Roman had nothing to do but sit and wait until he was fully healed.

His thoughts whirled as he stared at the wall. It was his fault he got hurt. But if Logan would just pull his head out of his ass for just one second he’d see that they needed to go deeper. Something had shot them out of the sky. Something dangerous.

And there was nothing better than finding a dangerous thing and killing it.

“Roman?” Patton stood in the doorway, Virgil and Logan at his sides. “We’re going out to gear up again. Lo says we’re running low on titanium and copper. Are you going to be alright by yourself?”

“It’s not like I can go anywhere.” The heat in his voice made Virgil flinch.

The anxious crewman took a step forward. “Ro, I can stay if -”

“Virgil, we need you on this trip. If there are dangerous fauna I’d like to avoid them.”

Virgil nodded, but his eyes were still on Roman.

“Go. I’ll be fine.”

There was a hesitance in Virgil’s eyes. “Are you su -”

“Just  _ go _ .”

Two pairs of eyes gave him guilty looks before the three of them vanished from the doorway.

**[Virgil Torgal has left the habitat.]**

**[Patton Sanders has left the habitat.]**

**[Logan Sanders has left the habitat.]**

After waiting a few moments to make sure they didn’t return, Roman pulled out his tablet and began making a few notes. He activated the voice log as he did so, ranting to the only thing on this planet that would listen to him.

“That jerk doesn’t have a fucking clue.” He furiously typed as he spoke. “The other two are fine, useful even, but Logan...he clearly thinks I’m an idiot, useless, or both. Well, he hired me and I’ll be damned if I don’t get my payday.”

Staring at his notes, Roman could feel the beginnings of a plan spring to his mind.

“Logan wants to stay in the cave, that much is clear. We’re safe, we have power, the surface is close by. If a Crabsnake so much as looked at this place, there’s no way he could keep it safe. That’s all on me.”

Looking out the window, Roman watched the Crabsnakes dart around the cave. A few of them sat in their mushrooms, probably guarding their offspring.

“There’s always a bigger fish. I’m going to find it, kill it, and use the bones to make a ship to take me to the deep. I’m going to find the biggest fish and kill it. And once it’s dead I’m going to find that damn thing that shot us down and tear it to pieces.”

Roman glanced out the window. Sure that they’d be gone for much longer, he checked his private stash. Plenty of metal ore for a seamoth, and he could figure out the rest later. There was enough food to steal his share from the growbed before he left. Virgil had inadvertently taught him to make enameled glass.

Everything was falling into place.

But...there was Patton.

Sweet, innocent Patton who tried so hard to make Roman feel like he was part of the group.

And Virgil.

Virgil who wanted everyone to be safe, regardless of who they were.

And Logan.

Logan, the idiot, would never survive without him.

A groan left Roman’s mouth as he pressed his forehead onto the cool glass of the window.

The pieces may have been set, but there was no way he’d be able to leave with a clean conscience.

Moving back to his bed, Roman laid down. If he wasn’t going to make his escape, he might as well get some rest.

After what felt like minutes, Roman was launched out of his bed and onto the floor. He heard screaming in the main room.

A blur of pink swam past the window.

“Logan, no! We can’t -”

The captain stood in Roman’s doorway. His breathing was erratic and Roman could see the sweat on his brow. “I know you’re hurt. Is there any way that you could fend off this creature?”

“I can try.”

“If you go out there, you’ll  _ die _ !” Virgil let out a shriek as the entire base shook.

“Wait!” Patton hit the light switch, leaving them in the dark. “Maybe if it can’t see us, it’ll think we’re dead.”

A whimper left Virgil as a tiny crack formed in the glass. “There’s windows in every room.”

“Not every room.”

The four of them carefully moved to the bioreactor, army crawling across the floor. It took everything Roman had not to hiss as pain flared up in his side.

After making sure none of them could be seen through the windows in the hall, they sat in silence. Virgil had both hands over his mouth, desperately trying not to whimper each time the Crabsnake slammed into the base.

One particularly hard attack had water beginning to pour in from the window. Patton gasped, but the sound was covered up by the low hum of the generator.

The attacks became less frequent until they stopped entirely. The crew waited another five minutes, letting the water rise another inch, until Roman peeked out the windows.

“There’s no movement.”

Patton went to get to his feet, but Virgil tugged him back down. “What if it’s just waiting?”

“From your observations, those creatures aren’t intelligent enough to wait.” It was the first time Roman had heard Logan speak in such a soft tone. “If they’ve stopped attacking, there’s a high chance that they’re gone and we’re safe.”

Virgil allowed Patton to pull the both of them up. Tears welled up in his eyes as he clung to the botanist. “I just wanna go home.”

“I know, Virgil.” Logan opened his arms and Roman was shocked to see Virgil dart into them. “We’ll find a way.”

Patton quickly joined in on their hug, whispering positive things in Virgil’s ear.

Roman watched the scene, feeling guilt settle deep into his gut. When he met Logan’s gaze, he knew they were thinking the same thing.

They weren’t going to make it home.


	11. Chapter 10

A week later, when Logan and Virgil were out on a supply run, Patton ran up to Roman waving his PDA around. “Ro, look!”

Taking the PDA out of Patton’s hands, Roman saw a blip of...something on the scanner. It glowed green, a different color than anything else they’d found on this planet. “Do you have any clue what this is?”

“No, but...it’s gotta be something, right?” There was a desperate look of hope in his eyes. “Our tech glows blue, so maybe it’s a different kind of technology?”

A plan started to form in Roman’s mind. “How deep is it?”

“...500 meters.”

“You know Logan will never want to go that deep, right?”

Patton’s shoulders drooped. “Yeah, I know. But if it’s our only chance…”

“I’ll talk to him.” As soon as the words were out of Roman’s mouth, he regretted them. Logan already hated him, this would just make it worse.

Patton brightened up immediately. “You will?”

“Yeah.”

When Logan and Virgil returned, the younger two of the crew disappeared into Patton’s room, closing the door behind them.

Roman walked up to the captain, praying to every deity he could think of that this went well.

“Logan, there’s something you need to see.”

He handed Logan his PDA, showing him the same thing Patton had seen.

The first thing Logan noticed was the depth.

“We’re already 200 meters below sea level.” He said, his voice cold. “You want to go  _ deeper _ ?”

“First of all, it’s not just me. Second, look around you. We’re standing in 3 inches of water. It’s leaking through everything - the hull, the hatch, the windows. We’re slowly drowning, Lo.”

“We can fix the base.”

“That might be true, but that doesn’t change the fact that we’re stuck here. That... _ thing _ that shot us down? It’ll do the same thing to anyone that heard our distress call, if anyone even heard it at all. We need to find the off switch.”

Logan threw his hands up in the air. “ _ Why _ would it be any more likely half a kilometer down?!”

“Your brother found something on the scanner.” Roman snapped, clenching his fists. “Obviously it’s not meant to be down there. Who put it there?”

“You’ve gone insane.” Logan reached out, only to have his hand batted away.

“You don’t believe me? Fine! But I’m going. Patton will probably follow, which means Virgil will too.”

Storming off to his room, Roman stopped in the doorway. He turned back, glaring at the captain. “Just know that if you come with, you have no authority. That stopped at sea level.”

Shaking with anger, Logan left the habitat. He took the seamoth, letting it float just above the cave entrance as he climbed on top of it. Pulling out his PDA, he began to rant.

“Stupid, stupid Roman. He wants to build a new base at 500 meters below sea level, somewhere northeast of here. He needs the rest of us to do it, there’s no way he’d be able to start a growbed and keep it going on his own. Not to mention finding some way to power the damn thing. It’s as though he thinks he can save us if he just acts recklessly enough. He’s not the leader here, despite what he thinks.”

Logan’s thoughts drifted to Patton and Virgil. They didn’t deserve to be stuck here.

“His idea might be stupid, but...it may be our last hope. The decision doesn’t exactly fall to me, as much as I’d like it to. If Roman decides to go, I’ll have to go with him. We can’t return to the island for answers. There aren’t any there.”

The sun began to set, turning the sky a beautiful golden hue. Logan hurried to wrap it up, unsure of why he was even bothering to record his thoughts anymore.

It wasn’t like anyone would ever find them.

“Roman was right about one thing. There’s so much lithium in these caves. If we wanted to, we could make a whole fleet of Cyclopes submarines. Crashing was inevitable with that damn thing that shot us down, but the detour may have been the right call. If we somehow get off this island, they’ll be talking about Sanders Corp throughout the galaxy.”

Logan sat on the seamoth until the sky turned a deep blue. Sliding back into the vehicle, he headed back to the base.

When he entered, he was surprised to find Virgil still in his and Patton’s room. The two of them were looking at something on the PDA, whispering to each other. They didn’t notice his presence until he cleared his throat.

“Sorry, Lo!” Virgil scrambled to his feet. “I’ll - um...good night!”

As soon as the crewman was out the door, Logan turned his concerned gaze onto his brother. “Patton? Is something wrong?”

The look Patton gave him broke his heart. “Lo, we’re stranded on an uncharted planet. There’s kind of a lot that’s wrong.”

“Pat -”

“Don’t.” Tears began to well up in Patton’s eyes. “You’re going to promise to get us out of here, but I know that we can’t. There’s no way for anyone to know where we are, let alone be close enough to hear a distress call. You keep telling Virgil that we’ll leave, but all you’re doing is giving him false hope.”

Logan was surprised to feel his own eyes stinging. “I know. But what’s worse? False hope or knowing that your own death is coming?”

“I don’t know, Lo. I don’t know.”


	12. Chapter 11

After taking a few days to gather supplies, the four of them boarded their seamoths and headed to the new area for their base. Roman stopped them just above a large crack in the sea floor, insisting that he poked around first before any of the others headed down.

When he didn’t reappear in the next thirty minutes, they started to worry.

“Should we go after him?” Virgil’s voice crackled over the radio.

“I’ll give him another ten minutes,” Logan said through gritted teeth. If Roman thought he could just abandon them… “If he doesn’t come back after that, we go after him.”

Nine minutes passed before Roman’s seamoth rose out of the crevice, smoking and sparking. All of them got out of their seamoths to help repair the damage.

“What happened?” Logan asked as soon as he was back in his seat.

Roman panted, catching his breath. He was glad that he’d been trained to hold his breath for long periods of time. “There’s these things down there...Patton you’d probably dub them Crabsquids because...well, that’s what they look like. But they did something and all of a sudden my seamoth stopped working. I got out to fix it and had to fight it off. I tried to leave, but it kept doing something to my ship.”

As Roman shifted his seamoth, the glare of his headlights had Logan shielding his eyes. In an instant, he realized what had happened below. “Roman. Did you have your headlights on the whole time?”

“Uh, yeah? I guess I didn’t really need them, because there’s some bioluminescent plants down there. But I figured I’d want to be able to actually see to scout out the area.”

Roman’s tone was bitter, and Logan had to bite his tongue to keep from lashing back. “I believe that the...Crabsquids, as you dubbed them, were setting off an EMP. They continued to knock out your power as you rose because the lights either attracted them or bothered them, I’m unsure which.”

“So you want me to go back down there and explore without the lights?” The shadows of Roman’s hands moved wildly as he spoke.

Protests came from both Patton and Virgil immediately.

“Lo, you can’t send him down there again!”

“What if you’re wrong? You can’t expect him to survive a second attack while he’s still recovering!”

A sharp whistle from Logan had the radio in dead silence. “I never agreed to Roman’s statement. In fact, I was planning to go down myself, to ensure that my hypothesis is correct.”

“No!” The two shouted in unison.

“If you wish for neither Roman and I to go ourselves, then what is your solution?”

A beat of silence passed before Patton spoke up. “We go together. Surviving is going to take all of us.”

An agreement passed between the four of them and they headed down together. Logan assumed they looked like a pod of whales, or whatever whale-like creature they had on this planet. He hoped that didn’t mean they’d appear as a target.

With Logan in the lead, they slowly navigated their way through the glowing bulbs. 

“They’re beautiful!” A smile spread across Logan’s face as he heard the awe in Patton’s voice. “I can’t wait to study them.”

“I’d rather keep away from the Crabsquids,” Virgil mumbled under his breath. “They seem aggressive.”

“You’ll have to study them eventually, though I would suggest taking Roman with you in case they attack,” Logan said as he maneuvered through the stalagmites with a practiced ease. He spotted a flattened area that could easily hold a few foundations.

Slowly, the four of them made their way over. Upon exiting, they made sure there weren’t any Crabsquids around before working on their builds.

The tiny light of the habitat builders wasn’t enough to attract the squids. It was almost too easy to create their base, despite the design changes Logan had made. In the end, they had a long corridor, leading to a set of three multipurpose rooms stacked on top of each other. Two observatories stuck out of the top tier, allowing Logan to research what he would need. 

The base stood in the soft blue glow and if he hadn’t known that they would surely die here, Patton thought it would make a nice place to visit.

“I’m going to add a beacon to our PDAs for this base.” Logan was already heading up towards his desk in the observatory. “In case someone gets turned around in these caves. They appear to go much deeper than we could ever get with our seamoths, even with the upgrades we have in place.”

“How deep do you think it goes?” Even if he wouldn’t have been able to pick up the nervousness in Virgil’s voice, Logan could see it in the way that he wrung his hands and shifted his feet.

Logan’s eyes darted to Patton. The message in his brother’s eyes was crystal clear.

_ Don’t lie to him _ .

“I’m unsure. For all we know, the caves could run to the very center of this planet. Of course, that would be superheated and if we wanted to explore we would need the proper equipment. Heat-resistant suits, some sort of energy source that ran on heat...it would be a mass movement on our part.” Logan rambled as he thought about the prospect of exploring the entire planet. When he glanced at Virgil, he saw the crewman was as white as a sheet. “Of course, we wouldn’t need to go that deep. It would be more of a hindrance to our survival at this point in time, given the circumstances.”

The color slowly began to return to Virgil’s face as he nodded. Patton, giving a stern look to Logan, took Virgil’s hand and sat him down on the bed, whispering reassurances.

A terrible feeling filled Logan’s chest as he watched the two. He’d never learned to give comfort like his brother had.

And now he never would.


	13. Chapter 12

Over the next month, the four of them found a comfort in their new base. Occasionally the Crabsquids would knock out their power, but it would come back online soon enough. It just required a bit of holding their breath.

Virgil and Patton had been attached at the hip, whispering to each other and going over something on their PDAs. Logan had tried to see what they were up to, but they refused to show him.

Patton had even encrypted the files so that Logan wouldn’t be able to see what they were working on.

It frustrated him to no end, making him more irritable than usual.

“Captain -”

“No.”

An overdramatic huff came from the doorway. “You don’t even know what I’m going to ask.”

“One, you just informed me that it was a question, in which case my answer is likely correct,” Logan said as he turned around. “Two, whenever you have called me Captain in the past, it has been followed by a request to do something stupidly dangerous.”

“And how many of my stupidly dangerous acts have saved our asses?”

The two continued to bicker as they headed into the main room. Neither noticed when Patton and Virgil came in, with respective faces of grief and fear.

“Logan, Roman, stop!” Virgil called out, his voice dying on the last word.

Patton took one glance at his friend before his mouth set into a determined line. “STOP FIGHTING!”

Silence followed as the arguing stopped. Logan and Roman turned to the younger two, their expressions sending icy shocks through their bodies.

When no one said a word, Roman broke the silence. “What?”

“We’re - we’re sick.” Virgil stuttered, clinging to Patton. The botanist rubbed calming circles on his back.

A million thoughts ran through Logan’s mind. They couldn’t be sick, he would’ve noticed, how were they infected? He knew that an onslaught of questions would merely frighten Virgil further, so he settled for a single word.

“How?”

Unfortunately, Patton could read Logan like a book. He knew his brother didn’t believe them. Not yet. “Have either of you been coughing? Feeling itchy? Any blisters?”

The two of them raised their hands, checking the skin for any alterations. Logan noticed a few small blisters on his hands just as Roman erupted into a coughing fit.

“This...this can’t be possible.” Logan scratched at the skin before remembering Patton’s words. “The biometrics. They would’ve warned us -”

“Not if it wasn’t in the database,” Virgil said, regaining his voice. “This...this is something new.”

“What’s it going to do then? Flip our organs inside out?” Roman joked, attempting to lighten the mood. “Turn us into jelly? If so, I hope I taste like Crofter’s.”

“It’s an alien bacteria, Roman.” Virgil shot a glare at the mercenary. “It’s not a joke. And it’s everywhere. I noticed it on some of the creatures, but I didn’t think we could get infected.”

He held out a small fish. The skin had blistered, but that wasn’t what was odd. The blisters were a radioactive green color.

“It’s affecting every organism on this planet.” Virgil continued, throwing the fish into the trash. “Patton and I did some research. It’s altering our genetic code, Lo.”

“How are the creatures surviving?” Logan asked, thoughts whirling. “There has to be some sort of cure. This planet wouldn’t have had any life on it otherwise.”

Virgil clammed up again, gesturing for Patton to continue. “We don’t know. It could be any number of things, but from what we’ve gathered...we won’t live long enough to find the answer.”

“What if I cut some of them open for you?” There was a metallic ringing as Roman pulled his knife out of its sheath. He flipped it around his fingers, stopping when he saw Virgil wince. “See what makes ‘em tick?”

Virgil shook his head. “No. Those poor creatures...they’re suffering enough.”

“What is it that you need?” Mind moving at a million miles an hour, Logan’s words began to spew out of his mouth. “Materials? Equipment? If we need to create something -”

Virgil held up a hand, stopping him in his tracks. “No...I just...give us some time to think. Maybe...just maybe...we can figure something out. Slow it enough to allow us time to find a cure.”

“Are you sure I can’t -”

A shake of Patton’s head had Logan biting his tongue. The two scientists brushed past their captain as they headed up to their shared desk in the second observatory.

“There must be something we can do.”

A thunk echoed through the room as Roman set his helmet on a table. “We can’t do anything if we just sit here.”

“Virgil explicitly told you not to slice open any of the fauna.” Logan watched as Roman walked about the room, gathering what he might need.

The mercenary looked over and gave him a wink. “He told me not to cut anything open. He never said I couldn’t bring them back here alive.”

Logan moved, blocking the doorway. “Roman, if you bring back an aggressive live specimen it could devastate our base. We’re too far under now, it could kill us all.”

“Get out of my way or I’ll move you.”

The two glared at each other, neither one budging on their position.

Logan blinked first.

“Fine. But it’ll be on your conscience if your idiotic method drowns us all.”

Logan moved out of the way, the heat behind his anger only increasing as Roman simply raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, Captain. I think you’re forgetting something.”

“Unlikely, but I’ll indulge you. What is it that I’m forgetting?”

Roman leaned back against the door, his hand on the handle. “It was your idiotic decision that got us stranded here in the first place.”


	14. Chapter 13

Once the four of them knew they were sick, Logan started seeing more symptoms.

He caught himself scratching at his scalp more often.

Virgil would dissolve into the worst coughing fits.

Patton and Roman both began to develop horrible blisters.

Speaking of the latter, Roman had begun to bring live specimens back for Virgil to study. He’d started off quite small, bringing back a few Boomerang fish. But as the subjects started dying, he started to go bigger and bigger.

Logan was furious when he brought back a Sand Shark.

“That thing could’ve killed us!”

Roman rolled his eyes, scratching the shark’s belly. “No way. This guy is tame.”

The shark moved quickly, nearly biting Roman’s arm off. The mercenary was faster, stabbing it in the stomach, killing it instantly.

“Okay, I may have been wrong.”

Logan could practically feel the smoke coming out of his ears. “Roman, no more creatures. You just end up killing them, which is making Patton and Virgil upset.”

“Please, I don’t have to listen to you.” Roman moved around Logan, gathering a few more materials. “As for the other two, it can’t be helped. We need to know what’s going on.”

“Roman -”

“Would you prefer that we die here?!” The sudden shouting made Logan stop short. “Because if someone doesn’t do  _ something _ , that’s what’s going to happen!”

Virgil slid down the ladder, glaring at the two of them. “Could you be quiet? Patton finally got to sleep, his blisters have been -”

The researcher started coughing. Logan winced at the noise. It sounded like his lungs were about to come right out of his throat, despite all the impossibility of that happening.

Roman shot Logan a look before heading back out.

**Roman Maida has left the habitat.**

Logan rushed to Virgil’s side, helping him into a chair. “Is there anything I can do?”

Virgil shook his head, desperately trying to hide his shiny eyes. “No. There’s nothing any of us can do. This bacteria is going to kill us all.”

“We might still -”

“The only way we’d find a cure is if there was a goddamn miracle.” He snapped. After seeing the shock on Logan’s face, Virgil took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I just...I feel helpless.”

“I think we all do.” Logan began to pace. “Science isn’t helping, which puts three of us on edge. Brute force obviously won’t do anything, which is why Roman is getting more and more reckless. At this point, we’ll kill each other before the bacteria does.”

There was a beat of silence.

“When was the last time you slept?”

Logan blinked, trying to recall. “I think...possibly 53 hours ago?”

“Logan.” Virgil pulled out the Dad voice, something he’d learned from Patton. “Go sleep. I’ll sit here and wait for Roman.”

“Are you sure? I can -”

Virgil grabbed his wrist, dragging him over to the ladder. “Go. Or I’ll wake up Patton and make him snuggle you to sleep.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

Seeing Virgil suck in a deep breath was all the convincing Logan needed. He scrambled up the ladder, curling up next to his sleeping brother.

He fell asleep instantly.

After what felt like minutes, he heard Roman enter the habitat. Moving carefully so as not to wake Patton, he headed down to the main level.

Roman had a terrifying grin on his face as he strolled into the room.

“Why are you so happy?”

Instead of answering, Roman turned his gaze onto Virgil. “Virge. I brought you something.”

Movement in the corner of his eye had Logan darting to the window. His brain short-circuited for a small moment at what he was seeing. “Is that a LEVIATHAN outside?!”

“Yep. Towed it home on the back of the sub.” Pride dripped from Roman’s voice. “Found him swimming around another mountain. We should really check it out, it had -”

“You KILLED that thing?” Logan’s hands went to his hair. “I thought we told you no more killing!”

“Relax, Specs, it’s still breathing! I was about to finish the job, but if you’d rather I can continue this conversation?” Roman asked, nodding when Logan shook his head. “That’s what I thought. Make yourself useful and pass me that hardened blade.”

“You’re insane.”

The blade was passed over by Virgil, who hadn’t said a word this whole time. His wide eyes were staring out the window. He looked ready to bolt at any second.

Logan began to pace. “I can’t believe you! How could you bring that thing here?! What if it’s not as hurt as it looks? There are plenty of species that play dead, only to kill their predators! What if others come? It could have a mate, or children!”

“Which would you prefer, Captain?” Roman asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice. “That it got curious and swam out here? Or that I caught it and killed its ass?”

Rage flooded into Logan’s veins. He pointed a finger at Roman, poking him in the chest. “If we  _ ever _ get off this damn planet, I’m going to drag you through every court in the Federation! You’ll never go on another mission, so help me God.”

Roman huffed. “God certainly isn’t helping us now. Or had you forgotten that we’re stuck here and dying?”

“Just...go kill that thing before it breaks free.”

**Roman Maida has left the habitat.**

Virgil stared out the window, wincing when he saw the blood fill the water. “The blood might bring something else here. Something bigger.”

“Those are nearly as big as a Cyclopes. I think it’s as big as we’re going to see.” Logan mused, watching as Roman made sure the predator was dead.

Virgil shook his head. “There’s always a bigger fish.”


	15. Chapter 14

Logan waited, watching as Roman did his best to dispel the blood. The moment he stepped back into the habitat, Logan shoved him up against the wall.

“I have  _ had  _ it with you risking our lives!”

The mercenary shoved back, but Logan was much stronger than he seemed. Pinned there, he snarled, “Stow it, Logan! Virgil can’t find a cure to this disease without subjects to study. I’m just bringing them here. Or have you not noticed that the only things here are the Crabsquids and little tiny things?”

“Virgil, tell him!” Logan whipped his head around, anger softening as he saw the terrified look on Virgil’s face. “Please...you have to tell him I’m right.”

“I...I -”

Virgil began to tremble, his mouth moving but no voice coming out. Any other day, Logan would’ve rushed to his side, but his rage was beginning to overtake his rational thought.

Patton came to Virgil’s rescue. As he slid down the ladder, he marched forward, eyes alight with anger. “You’re BOTH wrong!”

“What are you -”

“He’s right.” Virgil’s voice was barely above a whisper. The room fell silent as they waited for him to speak once more. “Roman...I-I can’t find out how, or if, they can resist the bacteria if they’re all dead.”

“It’s not exactly easy to bring them back alive.” Roman snapped. “Unless you’d like to give it a try. Oh, that’s right, you’re too afraid to go out there.”

Logan shoved Roman again, making the mercenary growl. “What he means is that you’re being reckless.”

“And Logan...it’s not any better if we hole ourselves up in the base. I can’t study anything if we don’t go outside.” Virgil wrapped his arms around himself, gaze moving to the floor. “We need to find some sort of middle ground.”

“No.” Logan let go of Roman, taking a step back. Roman brushed himself off. Logan could feel the hatred radiating off of him. “We are not compromising. Not while we have this reckless moron on my seabase.”

Roman glared daggers at the captain, starting to shake with anger. “ _ Your _ seabase? I’m the one who did all the work!”

“We’re going outside!” Patton yelled over the two. He held his hand out to Virgil, who clung tightly to it.

The fight continued, Logan and Roman not even noticing what had happened until Patton and Virgil were already out in the water.

**Patton Sanders has left the habitat.**

**Virgil Torgal has left the habitat.**

“Patton! Virgil!” Logan darted to the door, looking out the window. The two men were swimming off to their seamoths. He hit a button, activating their radios. “Get back here! It’s dangerous!”

They continued swimming. Virgil glanced back toward the base, but he didn’t show any signs of stopping.

“I know you can hear me!”

A distant roar echoed through the caves. Instead of turning around, Virgil and Patton swam quicker, making it to the seamoths.

It took a moment for the roar to register in Roman’s ears, but once it did he froze. He knew that roar.

“Logan. Lo! Get off the radio!”

Roman pulled at Logan’s arm, only to be shoved away. “Patton! Virgil!”

“LOGAN!” Roman slammed a knife into the radio. Sparks flew out of the console, making Logan reel back. “Put on your helmet.”

“What?!”

The roar echoed once more. Logan’s eyes widened and he dove for his rebreather.

Roman watched a dark shape come flying toward their base. “BRACE!”

Water poured in as the shape made contact. Logan was thrown clear from the base, going dizzy as his head smacked into one of the stalactites.

The shape moved again, heading directly for Logan.

The captain was too terrified to move. Just before the tentacles on its face could reach him, Roman appeared out of nowhere, a piece of the broken seabase in his hand. With all of his might, he jammed the metal into the leviathan’s neck. He grabbed hold as it began to twist, swimming off into the darkness.

Through his blurred vision, Logan saw a flash of light below him.

“Patton?”

Moving slowly, he swam toward where the light had been. It vanished before he could get too close, before appearing further away.

Logan blinked hard, wondering if he was seeing this correctly.

Or if he was seeing anything at all.

His thoughts moved to his brother. He certainly hoped that Patton and Virgil would get out of this alive. If there was anyone who could figure out a cure, it would be those two. Perhaps...perhaps he’d merely been slowing them down.

**30 seconds of oxygen.**

Logan closed his eyes. The image of his brother and friend filled his mind. He prayed to any deity he could think.

_ Please. Let them live. _

He already knew he was doomed.

Something definitely had the scent of his blood.

***

Gasping for breath, Virgil dragged Patton onto the beach. “What the HELL?”

“We have to go back!” Diving back toward the water, Patton was grabbed by the arm.

“Are you crazy?!” Collapsing in the sand, Virgil let the tears roll down his cheeks. “We can’t go back. That thing destroyed the base!”

“We can’t just abandon Logan and Roman!”

“They’re probably already dead!”

The shouting match died as the words sunk in. They were alone. They had no one to protect them, and no one to call the shots.

All they had was each other.

“Virge...do you - do you really think that...that they’re…”

Virgil nodded slowly. Patton began to sob, desperately clinging to Virgil, who wrapped his arms around him. “They couldn’t possibly have lived through that. Hope-hopefully they went quickly. Painlessly.”

After Patton cried himself out, the two of them gathered as many rocks as they could. Virgil had offered to make Logan’s grave, but Patton refused, saying it was something he had to do.

As the sun began to rise, the two of them made their way to what was left of their old base. There was enough for them to take shelter, as well as share the bed.

Patton moved to the small window, staring out as the sun moved higher into the sky. He pulled out his tablet, activating the voice log.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen the sunlight in months. I...I wish you could see it, Lo. I know you hated all that time we spent underwater. We all dreamed of it. It’s hard to enjoy without you. You...you were right. We should’ve never left the island. We shouldn’t have gone so deep. Something obviously didn’t want us down there.”

Patton took a shaky breath, hearing Virgil coughing violently behind him.

“Despite our best efforts, we were unable to figure out what the bacteria was, let alone find a cure. Our health is only deteriorating. I think...I think I’m starting to have visions. Of a lonely mother calling out for me.”

A coughing fit overtook Patton.

“Virgil says that Logan and Roman are dead. At least that means they’re a part of this planet’s ecosystem. A part of something bigger. It’s a little reassuring to know that when we go...we’ll go with them.”

The sun rose higher, painting the sky in pinks and oranges.

“And until then...there’s always the view.”

Patton sat, watching the sky turn to its natural blue. When the sun was high enough, he let out a sigh. He and Virgil would have to go hunting for food soon. Maybe they could redo the growbeds.

“Virgil.”

Patton turned, his blood turning to ice.

“VIRGIL!”


End file.
